WORKINGTON TOWN are talking to the neighbouring non-league football club over their plans for a redeveloped stadium – with the potential of a groundshare.
If it happened, it would mean the Rugby League club returning to Borough Park, where they played from their first season in 1945-46 until 1955-56, after which they built their own base, nearby Derwent Park, currently known as the Fibrus Community Stadium.
Workington AFC, of the Northern Premier League, want to demolish the current Borough Park, their home since 1937, and construct a new community stadium called the Cumberland Sports Village.
The £6.4million project would be funded by £5.4million from the Towns Fund, a pot of Government money resulting from the plan to level up regions, and £1million from Cumberland Council.
It’s been suggested the ideal scenario would be the two clubs moving in together, as was the plan when a new 8,000-capacity stadium was mooted in 2018.
At that stage, proposed completion was in time to become a venue for the last Rugby League World Cup, originally scheduled for 2021.
However hopes fell through after the old Allerdale Borough Council scaled back the plans, saying that size of stadium posed a “considerable financial risk”.
Three men’s ties were instead played at Newcastle’s Kingston Park when the pandemic-delayed tournament finally took place in 2022.
A spokesperson for Town, who have a long-term lease on their current ground, told League Express: “Conversations between the two clubs are continuing.”
Phase one of the project would involve bulldozing the main Workington AFC building on the west side of Borough Park and clearing the area in readiness for construction of the new facility.
The new building will house offices, dressing rooms, function rooms, catering facilities and bars, and there will also be a new stand.
Football club chairman Phil Norman said: “Modern facilities designed to meet stakeholder needs will enable Workington AFC to increase revenues without the burden of maintenance of old infrastructure.
“The facilities will be available to the wider community throughout the week and are set to become a focal point for sport in West Cumbria.”
Town have played occasional matches at Borough Park since 1956, including three in 2019 during pitch maintenance work at Derwent Park.
